Preview: UFC Fight Night 223 ‘Song vs. Simon’

Middleweights

Rodolfo Vieira (8-2) vs. Cody Brundage (8-3)

ODDS: Vieira (-240), Brundage (+200)

Vieira's transition to mixed martial arts may have been a bit rockier than expected, but there's still a lot to like about "The Black Belt Hunter." Immediately one of the most decorated grapplers on the roster upon signing with the UFC, Vieira seemingly ticked every box as a prospect to rise up the middleweight ranks in short order, possessing knockout power and elite athleticism to go along with that grappling game. Things went well enough at the start of Vieira's UFC career, even if the cracks started to show a bit in terms of Vieira not being an entirely comfortable fighter, but then came his 2021 loss to Anthony Hernandez that was one of the most spectacular implosions in recent memory. Vieira got the grappling match he wanted and found some early success, but was completely done as soon as he wasn't able to find a submission, resulting in Hernandez outworking him to the point that he was able to get an absolutely shocking submission of his own. To his credit, Vieira has picked himself up and clearly seems ready to put in the work necessary to improve in his fights since; he put in a few rounds of solid boxing before tapping out Dustin Stoltzfus in 2021, and he at least survived in a particularly rough style matchup against Chris Curtis in a decision loss this past June.

There's still a clear championship-level ceiling if everything fully clicks for Vieira, and Brundage is an interesting test to see exactly where the Brazilian stands at the moment. Brundage looked like a fairly standard wrestling-to-mixed martial arts convert upon signing with the UFC on late notice in 2021, but he's shown some flashes of potential beyond that; he showed off his durability in successfully getting a desperation submission on Dalcha Lungiambula and impressed as a striker in knocking out Tresean Gore for his next win. A December loss to Oleksiejczuk was a bit of a disheartening setback; Brundage followed the right plan in going for takedowns early and often, only to surprisingly get reversed and knocked out for his trouble. Brundage's proven to be adaptable enough heading into fights that he should be smart enough not to lock horns with Vieira in the wrestling and grappling realm, and there's some potential for him to score another knockout here if Vieira takes some time to settle into the fight - but this does look to be the type of matchup where Vieira should be able to feel things out and eventually score a takedown, after which he should take things over without much trouble. The pick is Vieira via second-round submission.

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Song vs. Simon
Borralho vs. Oleksiejczuk
Vieira vs. Brundage
Erosa vs. Padilla
De Lima vs. Cortes-Acosta
Quinlan vs. Waters
The Prelims